AOL Name Change Marks Online Unit's Fading Role
NEW YORK -- AOL Time Warner Inc.'s (AOL) board voted Thursday to drop AOL from its name, the latest sign of the online unit's diminished role at the media giant.
The company, which acquired its name after America Online Inc. merged with Time Warner Inc. in 2001, expects to complete the change back to Time Warner Inc. in the next few weeks. The company's AOL ticker symbol will replaced with TWX, Time Warner's symbol before the merger.
The name change was prompted in large part because of concerns that the struggling America Online unit's brand name was suffering by being linked to the parent company's corporate woes, including its image as a symbol of botched mega mergers.
"We believe that our new name better reflects the portfolio of our valuable businesses and ends any confusion between our corporate name and the America Online brand name for our investors, partners and the public," AOL Chairman and Chief Executive Dick Parsons said in an internal memo to employees. "Renaming our company will strengthen the identity of the AOL brand among consumers."
America Online, a former Internet highflier, used its shares to acquire Time Warner at the height of the dot-com bubble in early 2000.
The merger, the largest in history, was expected to transform the media business, by merging "old" media with "new."
But soon after the deal was completed, America Online's fortunes soured. With the burst of the technology bubble, advertising revenue at the unit plunged and subscriber defections mounted, dragging down the new company's stock price and triggering doubts about the rationale of the merger.
Adding to the company's woes, the online unit became the target of an accounting probe for questionable advertising transactions.
The merger's apparent failure to converge its "old" media assets with its "new" media assets prompted calls both inside and outside the company for Time Warner to undo the deal.
The company shelved its ambitions for "convergence," but opted to keep the online unit, launching an effort to turn it around, which so far appears to be on track.
"As you all know, America Online is an important part of our company, and we expect it to continue to make major contributions to our success in the future," Parsons said.
America Online is delivering on the company's financial outlook, including the generation of $1 billion of free cash flow for the year, and is moving forward on the new strategic plan it announced last December, Parsons said.
Generally, he said, the company is "firmly on track" to meet all of its key 2003 business objectives.
美国在线时代华纳将重新启用旧名
美国在线时代华纳(AOL Time Warner Inc., AOL)董事会周四表决决定，将“美国在线”从公司名称中去除，重新启用“时代华纳”的公司名称，并以“TWX”作为公司股票的代码。
预计美国在线时代华纳将在几周内完成与更名相关的事宜，包括启用“TWX”作为在纽约证交所挂牌交易的公司股票的代码。此次更名决定早在人们的意料之中，它标志著由美国在线(America Online)和时代华纳(Time Warner)于2001年合并组建的媒体航母时代的终结，也暗示著这家媒体巨头网络梦的彻底破灭。
两家公司当初的合并正值美国互联网泡沫鼎盛时期－－美国在线春风得意，是当时炙手可热的互联网明星企业，而时代华纳作为一个传统的媒体集团则相形见绌。谁知要把这一新一旧两种媒体文化融合在一起，就好比混合水与油。合并后，双方均对另一方的傲慢与无知大加指责，公司内部矛盾难以调和。随著互联网泡沫的破裂，美国在线的业务江河日下，这更激起了时代华纳管理人士的怨恨。他们认为合并是一大失误，美国在线未能兑现当初的承诺。
由于原美国在线业务中的问题日益凸现，原时代华纳的雇员一直敦促董事会更换公司名称，以此淡化美国在线问题给公司带来的影响。对于此次的更名之举，帕森斯在一份书面声明中称，相信新的公司名称可以更好地反映公司有价值的业务组合，并使投资者、合作伙伴以及公众更好地区分公司名称和“美国在线”品牌名称。
当美国证券交易委员会(SEC)去年夏季对美国在线激进的会计操作展开调查后，作为其母公司的美国在线时代华纳随即遭殃，原来一直稳定的股价大幅下挫，许多前时代华纳管理人士的退休金帐户损失惨重。前美国在线的高层管理人士被逐一清理出局，直到最后一个不剩。
在许多人看来，更名之举反映出该公司管理层内部的人心向背。虽然公司董事长兼首席执行长帕森斯(Dick Parsons)最初不愿更换公司名称，担心这会招来背弃美国在线部门的嫌疑。但结果倒是前美国在线的管理人士更为大度，称更名具备充分的商业理由。美国在线首席执行长米勒(Jonathan F. Miller)指出，有关母公司问题的负面报导损害了美国在线顾客至上的品牌形象。
米勒在致员工的一封电子邮件中称，“我们需要这样的自由，好让美国在线的名字再次独立出现。”
一些前美国在线的管理人士对米勒的想法嗤之以鼻，认为更名只是表面文章，不会给美国在线或其母公司带来任何改变。最早离开美国在线时代华纳的前美国在线高层主管伯劳(Myer Berlow)说，“一朵玫瑰无论换个什么名字，都无法改变其芬芳的气味。但愿外部人士也能同样重视，而不是公司内部人士的一厢情愿。”
分析师认为，更换公司名称除了提振士气以外，可能不会对公司业务产生任何影响。Soundview Technology Group的分析师Jordan Rohan说，“我相信更名会让一些时代华纳的老员工在上班时感觉更好，仅此一点也是值得的。”
该公司上周表示，有望如期在2004年底将公司债务由今年一季度时的263亿美元缩减至200亿美元，同时，深受广告需求低迷和订户数量下降之苦的美国在线业务也有望在今年底触底，并在2004年恢复增长。
